Color management controls the color conversion of a color image from a source device to a destination device, such as from an image scanner or digital camera to a color printer or monitor. In color management, there is often a mismatch between the gamut of colors available to the source device and the gamut of colors available to the destination device. The adjustment for this gamut mismatch is referred to as gamut mapping.
Conventional gamut mapping is typically performed in a colorimetric color space which is three dimensional. Examples of colorimetric color spaces in which conventional gamut mapping may be performed include CIEXYZ color space or CIELAB color space. The appearance of a reproduction resulting from such colorimetric color management is dependent on viewing conditions. In particular, the appearance of the reproduction may not match the original when the reproduction is viewed under a light source different from that assumed during conventional gamut mapping.
More recently, spectral color management has been considered. Spectral color management is advantageous over colorimetric color management, in that spectral color management uses spectral reflectance data that includes far more information than colorimetric data to represent the original color. In comparison to three-dimensional colorimetric data, spectral reflectance data will often use 31 dimensions or more to represent the spectral reflectance of a color stimulus. For spectral reflectance data using 31 dimensions, each of the 31 dimensions corresponds to a reflectance for a wavelength at 10 nm intervals in the visible wavelength spectrum of 400 nm to 700 nm. Accordingly, the use of spectral reflectance data in spectral color management usually results in a color reproduction with a better color match under arbitrary illuminants than a reproduction resulting from colorimetric color management.